On Writing Fiction Well: Description | Writing tips for beginners

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Hello, and welcome to my channel.
I’m V A Winter, an indie author, professional beta reader, sensitivity reader, and editor-in-training. I focus on speculative fiction and issues around representation in literature.
Website: www.vawinter.com
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I have an MA in Creative Writing, and a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, which have both given me a good understanding of story as both a reader and a writer. My stories are all about people like me: people who live on the margins of society, whether that’s because of social class, mental health, neurodivergence, or something else. If any of this sounds interesting, subscribe and join the adventure.

Опубликовано:

10 сен 2024

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Комментарии : 12

@apocalypso3427 Месяц назад

Absolutely wonderful video. This is spot on for writing description. The goal is never to force YOUR vision of the world to the reader, but to allow them to build the world in THEIR image. Give them a few seeds, but only where necessary. And bonus points if you can do it in a way that makes the reader believe you DID write all the description they see in their head. Usually, my description involves things that will be relevant to plot, things that are foreign to the reader (such as a fantasy race or feature), and things that define the characters or tone in the setting. When readers put in the imaginative work with only a little nudge from the writer, they are far more likely to get completely immersed and have an emotional connection with the story. It then becomes THEIR story as well, and that is the ultimate compliment to a writer (in my opinion, of course). I've been practicing and studying the art and craft of writing daily for the past 38 years and this video is probably the best one I have seen on this topic. VERY well done! Your examples are lovely, and I will absolutely be looking for your book when it is out!

@vawinter 23 дня назад

Thank you for your wonderful comment :) I agree about it being the ultimate aim to make the story the reader's, as well as yours. I feel like once we release a story into the world, it's no longer belongs to the writer at all, really. It becomes shared, and that's both scary and exciting!

@apocalypso3427 23 дня назад

@@vawinter I agree! I think that's always been the case with storytelling, even hailing back to the days of strictly oral tradition. The stories were always shared, and they evolved with each new mind that was touched by them. They went from belonging to a storyteller, to belonging to a group, and finally to an entire culture until they became things of greatness that still flow through the veins of the world today. To me it's a kind of magic that's often overlooked and is so powerful when discovered. And we writers get to take direct part in keeping that going - how lucky are we?

@ratulbalabiswas7774 24 дня назад

Beautiful, please carry on with these videos in future.

@vawinter 23 дня назад

I've got more coming over the next few months :)

@piapeijainen 29 дней назад

Oops, I didn't think I'd write a comment on almost every video you make. Description is my weak point. Definitely. You said a lot that made me think. I have so much to edit in the future. At this point I'm looking forward to it. Years ago, when I was writing really short stories (not the way you use in english a short story.. something like drabble?), editing and polishing were my favorites. (it is difficult to translate thoughts that "do not conform to the rules for me".... (if you manage to finish reading, it will become clear, I hope). Example (english= finnish): Novel= Romaani, Novella= Pienoisromaani, Short story = Novelli (direct translation, by word to word would be "lyhyt tarina", And if "lyhyt tarina" would be translated as a "short story", it would be longer than finnish short story... kind of...) and I don't know how short is drabble, is it too short or too long :D Sorry for getting off topic so I better focus about tomorrow and go to sleep.

@vawinter 23 дня назад

I appreciate your comments :) Do you mean flash fiction? So stories of only a few hundred words? Or a few thousand? I've written a few pieces of this type of fiction over the years, but I don't think I'm very good at it! I'm glad you found the video helpful. :)

@piapeijainen 23 дня назад

@@vawinter I found out about the drabbles, they are too short for what I meant. Flash fiction is a term wich I can't say anything, while dictionarys don´t know what it is. I haven't counted the words, but they were 3-4 sheet long. I'm a little annoyed because there are so few videos about writing in finnish on RU-vid. That's why I lack the "professional vocabulary" of the finnish language and it makes it difficult to talk about the subject in english and finnish.

@vawinter 8 дней назад

It sounds like flash fiction. Flash is can be anywhere from a few hundred words about 1000 or 1500. Or maybe just really short stories. Even in English it's hard to define sometimes. But I can understand how the lack of content in Finnish is frustrating. :(

@piapeijainen 8 дней назад

@@vawinter Thanks for the term. I am going to use the term "flash fiktio " or "salama fiktio" in finnish. :)